This bulletin was sent by Notts County Council and contains a link to a presentation to be given on the 7th December.
https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/UKNOTTSCC/bulletins/338418b
Independent Examination – Post Hearing Update
We have updated the Plan page of the website following receipt earlier this week of the Examiner’s Post Hearing Note. The Forum also submitted an additional document (at the Examiner’s request) relating to Local Greenspace Designation that was referred to during discussions at the public hearing. These are also available via Broxtowe’s Page on our Neighbourhood Forum along with all the other Examination and Regulation 16 documents.
The note contains the Examiner’s initial thoughts following the public hearing held on 10th November. She is “satisfied that substantive modification is needed” before she “shall be able to recommend that the Plan can proceed” to local referendum, and she intends “to give further guidance on necessary modifications to specific policies and sections of the Plan to the Forum in due course”. We thought that this would be the likely outcome from the hearing due to a) policy changes at national level (in particular the Integrated Rail Plan announcement); and b) at a local level the development of the Toton & Chetwynd Barracks Strategic Masterplan Supplementary Planning Document (SM-SPD) since the Neighbourhood Plan was submitted, initially in June 2020 and then an updated version in November 2021 as outlined and explained on the Plan page as linked above.
In relation to the SM-SPD the Examiner’s view is that “the Neighbourhood Forum should aim to align with the SPD, even if the latter has had a shorter preparation period than the CTTCNP (2020 start compared with 2017) and has not yet been finalised”.
Once we receive the Examiner’s final report and guidance on the necessary modifications, we will work with Broxtowe and other key stakeholders as quickly as possible to enable the Neighbourhood Plan to go forward to referendum, without any further undue delay.
Trees to be Planted in Chetwynd Park
Back in May we posted about the fact that some trees had been felled in Chetwynd Park & nesting pigeons disturbed. We have recently become aware that, after consultation with local residents, Broxtowe Council are to plant trees and shrubs in the park, partly in memory of the late Queen’s Jubilee, but also because the local residents commented.
We believe the planting is to take place with local schools on Friday 25th November 2022 but have no detailed information. If you’re interested we suggest you contact Broxtowe Council.
Posted in FGEnvironment, Latest News
Tagged Chetwynd Neighbourhood Forum, Chetwynd Park, environment, Trees
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East Midlands Devolution
The Public Consultation for the East Midlands Devolution is open from now until 9th January 2023.
The proposal brings together the County and City Councils of Nottingham & Derby into a Combined County Authority that would work with the Local Authorities (in our case Broxtowe) on a range of topics including homes & infrastructure which are important to us as a Neighbourhood Forum.
It’s important that everybody reads and tries to understand what this means to them, and you can only expect your views to be heard if you make them.
Read the information and make your views known.
As always please do feel free to ask any questions you may have on this or anything else via the Contact Us page, and we’ll do our best to answer them via the Questions and Answers page.
Posted in Consultation, Latest News
Tagged Consultation, East Midlands Devolution, Public Consultation
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Independent Examination – Hearing Update
We understand that Broxtowe hope to livestream the Independent Examination Hearing tomorrow from 10am until it closes at around 5pm via their YouTube channel (as per their Council meetings). It is not absolutely guranteed, but that is what they are intending to be able to do.
If so, it will provide an opportunity to watch rather than attend the Council chamber in the Council offices at Foster Avenue, if that is what you would rather do. Of course we would like to see people in person in the public seating area as well! As a reminder there is no right for members of the public to speak or ask questions during the hearing. Observation only I’m afraid!
You should be able to find the channel by opening YouTube (via web or app) and searching for Broxtowe Borough Council.
Independent Examination – Pre-Hearing Statements
The Forum Steering Group has submitted a statement to the Independent Examiner, along with six other participant organisations, ahead of the public hearing to be held on 10th November, in compliance with the Examiner’s requirements.
All the statements are available via a link from our Plan page, or directly from Broxtowe’s Page on our Neighbourhood Forum along with further details about the hearing itself, as per our previous ‘Latest News’ posts.
As always please do feel free to ask any questions you may have on this or anything else via the Contact Us page, and we’ll do our best to answer them via the Questions and Answers page.
Government Committed to 300,000 Homes Target
The Government remains committed to its target of 300,000 homes a year despite “difficulties”.
See this article in the Independent and watch on BBC iPlayer (starting about 20 minutes in). Some of the difficulties would be overcome using Modern Methods of Construction.
Posted in FGCommunity, Latest News
Tagged Housing, Housing Volumes, Modern Methods of Construction, Neighbourhood Plan
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Biodiversity Net Gain: Beeston Civic Society Winter Talk – 14th December 19:00
Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) has rapidly become part of every day planning vernacular. On the 14th December 2022 at 19:00 Nick Sanderson a member of our Environmental Group is giving a talk to the Beeston Civic Society hoping to provide a baseline understanding of what this really means in practice and what we can look for in the future.
To book your slot follow this link to eventbright https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/winter-talk-december-2022-tickets-451803044067
Posted in FGEnvironment, Latest News
Tagged Beeston Civic Society, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Net Gain
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Nottingham Housing Retrofit Program
On 26th October 2022, some of us went to a presentation at Nottingham University on the Nottingham Retrofit Program. Whilst it was based on Nottingham City’s experiences on retrofitting their housing stock to help them achieve Net Zero, it emphasised the scale (and cost) of reducing the carbon emissions of the UK Housing stock. The slides presented are available on the Climate Emergency Design Initiative website but it includes some pretty damning information.
Did you know:
- The UK has some of the poorest performing housing stock in Europe
- In Nottingham over 60% of the housing stock has an Energy Performance Certificate below C (in Broxtowe its over 50%)
- The Government’s definition of Fuel Poverty is when after paying energy costs the resulting household income is below the poverty line and Nottingham has 20% of Households in Fuel Poverty – the national average is 13.2%
- We don’t know the energy performance of the existing housing stock, we can only guess based upon age & size (one presenter was pretty scathing about the usefulness of the EPC as a measure)
- The cost of a complete retrofit program for Nottingham City’s Homes is estimated to be £7.2B
Whilst our Neighbourhood Area’s housing stock is probably newer than Nottingham City, the scale of the issue is huge.
On the positive side, the presentation was preceded by a visit to Nottingham University’s Sustainable Homes which showed (amongst other things) that it is possible to design and build homes using Modern Methods of Construction that require no additional power other than that which is generated by the home.
Go and look at the Climate Design Initiative’s website and realise that solving this problem is like eating an elephant, solved one house at a time.
Posted in Green Energy, Latest News
Tagged architecture, energy efficiency, green energy, Housing, Nottingham University, solar energy
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